hood ornament ??

[SAC]

Hey guys, this doesn't do much to clarify the situation, but my '68 300 does NOT have a hood ornament nor did it ever. I am the second owner, it's never had any body work done, I've had the car for twenty years and it is an early build- with a date of 9/12/1967. Perhaps that suggests they were NOT using up the remaining inventory left over from '67.

Beautiful 300s by the way. I've been thinking lately of bringing it out of storage and fixing the damage that ten years of garage time will do. Those photos remind me how sleek and great-looking those cars are!

 

[commando1]

In 1968 I got into a collision with my 67 Dart GT and I had the body shop install a 68 GTS hood with the scoops. Lots of instances of hoods going onto different applications back then.
GTO hoods on Tempests, etc.

 

[SIPLOWGUY]

My Dad used to rent Plymouth Furys in the 60's for us to go on vacation. Even though he bought a 62 Pontiac in June 66 he would rent a Fury (and only a Fury) for long trips or special occasions. He rented 3 Furys for my cousins wedding and I remember the hood ornament laid flat.

 

[live4theking]

My Dad used to rent Plymouth Furys in the 60's for us to go on vacation. Even though he bought a 62 Pontiac in June 66 he would rent a Fury (and only a Fury) for long trips or special occasions. He rented 3 Furys for my cousins wedding and I remember the hood ornament laid flat.

What was the logic behind renting the Furys?

 

[commando1]

Put the miles on someone elses car while using and abusing it.
I hate beach sand all over the floor.

 

[shooter65]

My Dad used to rent Plymouth Furys in the 60's for us to go on vacation. Even though he bought a 62 Pontiac in June 66 he would rent a Fury (and only a Fury) for long trips or special occasions. He rented 3 Furys for my cousins wedding and I remember the hood ornament laid flat.

Do you mean like this one?

Plymouth 68 and 69 only. Trying to find the red anodized 440 insert for mine. So. Cal. car and the insert is bleached out to all silver
Always thought it was funny that the engine CID callout faces the driver, as if you don't know what motor you have.

 

[cantflip]

Looks Great.

I would guess that the factory had the punch out access hole for the hood ornament in the stamping and wasn't about to go to the expense to change it because they excluded the hood ornament. Wouldn't have made sense to retool the inner hood stamping for something that wouldn't be seen or impact the structure.

To weigh in a possibility here... since the support panel was already punched, all the dealer had to do was poke a hole and bolt it on. That wasn't so uncommon to my understanding. A guy I knew early in career and late in his, told me about dealer radio installs and punching holes in fenders... that would have been within a decade of this car unloading at the dealer... the dealer could have installed it to make it "right" or by customer request. Dealers do all kinds of crazy stuff because the management thinks it will help their image or sales.

 

[shooter65]

To weigh in a possibility here... since the support panel was already punched, all the dealer had to do was poke a hole and bolt it on. That wasn't so uncommon to my understanding. A guy I knew early in career and late in his, told me about dealer radio installs and punching holes in fenders... that would have been within a decade of this car unloading at the dealer... the dealer could have installed it to make it "right" or by customer request. Dealers do all kinds of crazy stuff because the management thinks it will help their image or sales.

Absolutely, remember the ugly vinyl graphics and cheesy landau/full landau tops they put on cars in the 80's?

 

[cantflip]

Absolutely, remember the ugly vinyl graphics and cheesy landau/full landau tops they put on cars in the 80's?

Worse... Conversion Vans...2 hour dog house removals and put together and rewired by unskilled labor with crimp splices. I had to unbuild half a van once to get to the wire they ran a screw through and shorted to ground. I talked to the builder's warranty department on a new unsold van... "You know you guys are paying me every second of time it takes me to undo your mess"... they did.

 

[SIPLOWGUY]

What was the logic behind renting the Furys?

My Dad worked for Squibb Pharmaceuticals and they offered a big discount from Avis. The only time I remember a car other than a Fury was a white 64 Impala. After that is was a Fury. The one time they offered my Dad a Rambler he refused. I remember the guy from Avis drove us to another Avis store in a Rebel convertible to pick up a Fury. I guess the main reason for wanting a Fury was we typically had 7 of us. My Mom, Dad, twin sisters, my brother and I and my Uncle Bruno. I rode on Uncle Bruno's lap because I was the youngest. If Uncle Bruno wasn't with us I rode the middle of the front seat. I remember looking at the hood ornament the entire time! My Dad was a MOPAR guy although he only owned 2 MOPARS in his life, a 46 Desoto and a 77 Dodge Aspen. He mostly had GM's. I remember he bought the 62 Pontiac in June 66 but we rented a 66 Fury that summer. I know Dad put 3 Trannys (Slim Jim) in that Poncho so my guess that year was the Pontiac was out of service for vacation. I don't remember any 67's. In 68 my cousin Robert got married and my Dad was tasked with 3 rentals. We got 2 4 doors and a 2 door. My Uncles got the 4 doors and we got the 2 door. After that Squibb moved to NJ and gave the Brooklyn guys the boot so no more rentals. Dad worked for NY Telephone after that and in 1970 bought a 66 Impala Sport Coupe.

 

[SIPLOWGUY]

Do you mean like this one?
View attachment 67313
Plymouth 68 and 69 only. Trying to find the red anodized 440 insert for mine. So. Cal. car and the insert is bleached out to all silver
Always thought it was funny that the engine CID callout faces the driver, as if you don't know what motor you have.

Yeah but they said 318. I bet Dad wished they said 440!

 

[SIPLOWGUY]

Put the miles on someone elses car while using and abusing it.
I hate beach sand all over the floor.

LMAO!!!!!!!!! I like the way you think!

 

[cbarge]

67 & 68 300's shared the same hood. Hence the holes for the hood ornament for 67's.
68 did not have an ornament.
I checked my 68 factory parts catalog and no listing for it.
I do agree that the ornament looks great on the 68--if you can grab one from a 67..... or a 66 possibly